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Trial begins for N.H. man in 1969 McCabe slaying

By Lisa Redmond, lredmond@lowellsun.com

Updated:
01/16/2013 01:53:59 PM EST

WOBURN -- While a co-defendant is prepared to finger former friend Michael Ferreira for the 1969 slaying of 15-year-old John McCabe, Ferreira's attorney dropped a bombshell during opening statements on Tuesday.

Defense attorney Eric Wilson attempted to discredit the prosecution's theory that McCabe, of Tewksbury, was kidnapped, hog-tied and left to die in a Lowell field on Sept. 26, 1969, to "teach him a lesson" for flirting with Walter Shelley's girlfriend.

Wilson told the jury that the so-called girlfriend, who was 12 at the time, told him "she wasn't dating Walter Shelley."

Ferreira, 58, of Salem, N.H., is on trial in Middlesex Superior charged with first-degree murder in the death of the Tewksbury Junior High School student.

Ferreira's co-defendants are Shelley, 61, of Tewksbury, and Edward Allen Brown, 60, of Londonderry, N.H. Brown and Shelley were both 17 at the time of the slaying, while Ferreira was 16.

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Ferreira and Shelley are both charged with murder. Brown, who is a prosecution witness, is charged with a lesser charge of manslaughter.

McCabe's body was found in a vacant field off Maple Street in Lowell on the morning of Sept. 27, 1969. McCabe attended a school dance at the Knights of Columbus in Tewksbury the previous night, and did not come home by his midnight curfew.

In his opening statement, prosecutor Thomas O'Reilly said McCabe was found "hog-tied" with a single rope around his neck that bound his feet. His wrists were tied, and his eyes and mouth were taped shut.

Brown allegedly told investigators they hatched a plan to find McCabe and "teach him a lesson" for flirting with Shelley's girlfriend.

When they spotted McCabe walking home from the dance, the teens allegedly forced him into a 1965 Chevrolet Impala and drove to a vacant lot on Maple Street in Lowell.

Brown told police that McCabe was crying and begging to be let out. Instead, McCabe was dragged from the car and pinned to the ground by Shelley and Brown while Ferreira taped his eyes and mouth shut.

As they walked away from McCabe, O'Reilly said, "They continued to taunt him, telling him this is what he got for messing with Marla."

More than an hour later, the three teens returned to the field and found McCabe dead. The rope had tightened around McCabe's neck as he struggled to free himself. The cause of death was determined to be asphyxia due to strangulation.

Brown allegedly told police they were fearful they would be caught, so they took a vow of silence. Ferreira threatened to kill anyone who broke that vow, O'Reilly said.

Several years ago, Lowell police initiated its "cold case" unit to reinvestigate unsolved cases. Ferreira and Shelley were suspects in the original investigation.

When Shelley and Ferreira were initially interviewed after the murder, they gave conflicting statements to police about their activities that night.

When they were re-interviewed by police in 2008, Ferreira said he was with Shelley and another person.

Police allege that during the intervening years, Ferreira allegedly told three people that he and Shelley had killed a boy.

Wilson described the 16-year-old Ferreira as a "prankster" who was joking when he admitted to killing McCabe.

"It is not something to joke about, but it is not an admission to murder," Wilson said.

It was Ferreira who gave police Brown's name as someone he was with that night, O'Reilly said.

"Until then, no one knew who the third person was in the car that night," the prosecutor said.

Wilson claims there were other possible suspects police overlooked. One of those, he said, was a man who was convicted of abducting, raping and tying up a teenage girl, telling her, "I've done this before."

Wilson said another man called two priests to confess he murdered the boy. The man said he had McCabe's belt, which was not on him when his body was found.

Through a series of interviews with police, none of which was recorded, Brown denied being involved in the murder, then said maybe he was involved, but it is a "repressed memory" or a "fantasy," then an accident, Wilson said.

Police Detective Linda Coughlin, who led the investigation, then showed Brown the "troubling photos" of McCabe's dead body, Wilson said.

Wilson suggested Brown crafted a story from what police and prosecutors told him.

But O'Reilly told the jury when Brown talked to police there was no deal. Brown believed he would spend the remainder of his life in prison, the prosecutor said.

In exchange for his testimony, Brown is facing a manslaughter, not a murder charge, and he won't go to jail, O'Reilly said.

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